CTESIPHON
![](ctesiphon.jpg)
Ctesiphon
Map
of the metropolis of Ctesiphon in the Sasanian era
Ctesiphon |
Location |
Salman
Pak, Baghdad Governorate, Iraq |
Religion |
Mesopotamia |
Coordinates |
33°5'37
N 44°34'50 E |
Type |
Settlement |
Part
of |
Babylonia |
Area |
9
km2 (3.5 sq mi) |
History |
Cultures |
Iranian |
Site
notes |
Excavation
dates |
1928
- 1929, 1931 - 1932, 1960s - 1970s |
Archaeologists |
Oscar
Reuther, Antonio Invernizzi, Giorgio Gullini |
Condition |
Ruined |
|
Ctesiphon
(Middle Persian: tyspwn or tysfwn) was an ancient city, located
on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and about 35 kilometres (22
mi) southeast of present-day Baghdad. Ctesiphon served as a
royal capital of the Iranian empire in the Parthian and Sasanian
eras for over eight hundred years. Ctesiphon was the winter
capital of the Sasanian Empire until the Muslim conquest of
Persia in 651 AD.
Ctesiphon
developed into a rich commercial metropolis, merging with the
surrounding cities along both shores of the river, including
the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. Ctesiphon and its environs
were therefore sometimes referred to as "The Cities"
(Aramaic: Mahuza, Arabic: al-Mada'in). In the late sixth and
early seventh century, it was listed as the largest city in
the world by some accounts.
During
the Roman–Parthian Wars, Ctesiphon fell three times to
the Romans, and later fell twice during Sasanian rule. It was
also the site of the Battle of Ctesiphon in 363 AD. After the
Muslim invasion the city fell into decay and was depopulated
by the end of the eighth century, its place as a political and
economic center taken by the Abbasid capital at Baghdad. The
most conspicuous structure remaining today is the Taq Kasra,
sometimes called the Archway of Ctesiphon.
Names
:
The Latin name Ctesiphon derives from Ancient Greek Ktesiphôn.
This is ostensibly a Greek toponym based on a personal name,
although it may be a Hellenized form of a local name, reconstructed
as Tisfon or Tisbon. In Iranian-language texts of the Sasanian
era, it is spelled as tyspwn, which can be read as Tisfon, Tesifon,
etc. in Christian Sogdian (in Syriac alphabet) languages. The
New Persian form is Tisfun.
Texts
from the Church of the East's synods referred to the city as
Qtespon or some times Mahôze when referring to the metropolis
of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
In
modern Arabic, the name is usually Taysafun or Qataysfun or
as al-Mada'in ("The Cities", referring to Greater
Ctesiphon). "According to Yaqut [...], quoting Hamza, the
original form was Tusfun or Tusfun, which was arabicized as
Taysafun." The Armenian name of the city was Tizbon. Ctesiphon
is first mentioned in the Book of Ezra of the Old Testament
as Kasfia/Casphia (a derivative of the ethnic name Cas, and
a cognate of Caspian and Qazvin). It is also mentioned in the
Talmud as Aktisfon. In another Talmudic reference it is written
as Akistfon, located across the Tigris River from the city of
Ardashir.
Location
:
![](640px-Ctesiphon-ruin_1864.jpg)
Taq
Kasra or Ctesiphon palace ruin, with the arch in the centre,
1864
Ctesiphon is located approximately at Al-Mada'in, 32 km (20
mi) southeast of the modern city of Baghdad, Iraq, along the
river Tigris. Ctesiphon measured 30 square kilometers, more
than twice the surface of 13.7-square-kilometer fourth-century
imperial Rome.[citation needed]
The
archway of Chosroes (Taq Kasra) was once a part of the royal
palace in Ctesiphon and is estimated to date between the 3rd
and 6th centuries AD. It is located in what is now the Iraqi
town of Salman Pak.
History
:
Parthian period :
Ctesiphon was founded in the late 120s BC. It was built on the
site of a military camp established across from Seleucia by
Mithridates I of Parthia. The reign of Gotarzes I saw Ctesiphon
reach a peak as a political and commercial center. The city
became the Empire's capital circa 58 BC during the reign of
Orodes II. Gradually, the city merged with the old Hellenistic
capital of Seleucia and other nearby settlements to form a cosmopolitan
metropolis.
The
reason for this westward relocation of the capital could have
been in part due to the proximity of the previous capitals (Mithradatkirt,
and Hecatompylos at Hyrcania) to the Scythian incursions.
Strabo
abundantly describes the foundation of Ctesiphon :
In
ancient times Babylon was the metropolis of Assyria; but now
Seleucia is the metropolis, I mean the Seleucia on the Tigris,
as it is called. Nearby is situated a village called Ctesiphon,
a large village. This village the kings of the Parthians were
wont to make their winter residence, thus sparing the Seleucians,
in order that the Seleucians might not be oppressed by having
the Scythian folk or soldiery quartered amongst them. Because
of the Parthian power, therefore, Ctesiphon is a city rather
than a village; its size is such that it lodges a great number
of people, and it has been equipped with buildings by the Parthians
themselves; and it has been provided by the Parthians with wares
for sale and with the arts that are pleasing to the Parthians;
for the Parthian kings are accustomed to spend the winter there
because of the salubrity of the air, but they summer at Ecbatana
and in Hyrcania because of the prevalence of their ancient renown.
Because
of its importance, Ctesiphon was a major military objective
for the leaders of the Roman Empire in their eastern wars. The
city was captured by Rome five times in its history –
three times in the 2nd century alone. The emperor Trajan captured
Ctesiphon in 116, but his successor, Hadrian, decided to willingly
return Ctesiphon in 117 as part of a peace settlement. The Roman
general Avidius Cassius captured Ctesiphon in 164 during another
Parthian war, but abandoned it when peace was concluded. In
197, the emperor Septimius Severus sacked Ctesiphon and carried
off thousands of its inhabitants, whom he sold into slavery.
Sasanian
period :
![](640px-Sasanian_Asoristan_and_its_surroundings.svg.jpg)
Map of the southwestern Sasanian province of Asoristan
and its surroundings
By 226, Ctesiphon was in the hands of the Sasanian Empire, who
also made it their capital and had laid an end to the Parthian
dynasty of Iran. Ctesiphon was greatly enlarged and flourished
during their rule, thus turning into a metropolis, which was
known by in Arabic as al-Mada'in, and in Aramaic as Mahoze.
The oldest inhabited places of Ctesiphon were on its eastern
side, which in Islamic Arabic sources is called "the Old
City" (Madinah al-'Atiqah), where the residence of the
Sasanians, known as the White Palace, was located. The southern
side of Ctesiphon was known as Asbanbar or Aspanbar, which was
known by its prominent halls, riches, games, stables, and baths.
Taq Kasra was located in the latter.
The
western side was known as Veh-Ardashir (meaning "the good
city of Ardashir" in Middle Persian), known as Mahoza by
the Jews, Kokhe by the Christians, and Behrasir by the Arabs.
Veh-Ardashir was populated by many wealthy Jews, and was the
seat of the church of the Nestorian patriarch. To the south
of Veh-Ardashir was Valashabad. Ctesiphon had several other
districts which were named Hanbu Shapur, Darzanidan, Veh Jondiu-Khosrow,
Nawinabad and Kardakadh.
Severus
Alexander advanced towards Ctesiphon in 233, but as corroborated
by Herodian, his armies suffered a humiliating defeat against
Ardashir I. In 283, emperor Carus sacked the city uncontested
during a period of civil upheaval. In 295, emperor Galerius
was defeated outside the city. However, he returned a year later
with a vengeance and won a victory which ended in the fifth
and final capture of the city by the Romans in 299. He returned
it to the Persian king Narses in exchange for Armenia and western
Mesopotamia. In c. 325 and again in 410, the city, or the Greek
colony directly across the river, was the site of church councils
for the Church of the East.[citation needed]
![](Babylon&Seleuicia1(Peutinger_Map).png)
4th
century Ctesiphon (Peutinger Map)
After the conquest of Antioch in 541, Khosrau I built a new
city near Ctesiphon for the inhabitants he captured. He called
this new city Weh Antiok Khusrau, or literally, "better
than Antioch Khosrau built this". Local inhabitants of
the area called the new city Rumagan, meaning "town of
the Romans" and Arabs called the city al-Rumiyya. Along
with Weh Antiok, Khosrau built a number of fortified cities.
Khosrau I deported 292,000 citizens, slaves, and conquered people
to this new city in 542.
In
590, a member of the House of Mihran, Bahram Chobin repelled
the newly ascended Sasanian ruler Khosrau II from Iraq, and
conquered the region. One year later, Khosrau II, with aid from
the Byzantine Empire, reconquered his domains. During his reign,
some of the great fame of al-Mada'in decreased, due to the popularity
of Khosrau's new winter residence, Dastagerd. In 627, the Byzantine
Emperor Heraclius surrounded the city, the capital of the Sassanid
Empire, leaving it after the Persians accepted his peace terms.
In 628, a deadly plague hit Ctesiphon, al-Mada'in and the rest
of the western part of the Sasanian Empire, which even killed
Khosrau's son and successor, Kavadh II.
In
629, Ctesiphon was briefly under the control of Mihranid usurper
Shahrbaraz, but the latter was shortly assassinated by the supporters
of Khosrau II's daughter Borandukht. Ctesiphon then continued
to be involved in constant fighting between two factions of
the Sasanian Empire, the Pahlav (Parthian) faction under the
House of Ispahbudhan and the Parsig (Persian) faction under
Piruz Khosrow.
Downfall
of the Sasanians and the Islamic conquests :
In the mid-630s, the Muslim Arabs, who had invaded the territories
of the Sasanian Empire, defeated them during a great battle
known as the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah. The Arabs then attacked
Ctesiphon, and occupied it in early 637.
The
Muslim military officer Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas quickly seized Valashabad
and made a peace treaty with the inhabitants of Weh Antiok Khusrau
and Veh-Ardashir. The terms of the treaty were that the inhabitants
of Weh Antiok Khusrau were allowed to leave if they wanted to,
but if they did not, they were forced to acknowledge Muslim
authority, and also pay tribute (jizya). Later on, when the
Muslims arrived at Ctesiphon, it was completely desolated, due
to flight of the Sasanian royal family, nobles, and troops.
However, the Muslims had managed to take some of troops captive,
and many riches were seized from the Sasanian treasury and were
given to the Muslim troops. Furthermore, the throne hall in
Taq Kasra was briefly used as a mosque. The Ctesiphon library
was also destroyed by the Arabs of the Rashidun Caliphate.
Still,
as political and economic fortune had passed elsewhere, the
city went into a rapid decline, especially after the founding
of the Abbasid capital at Baghdad in the 760s, and soon became
a ghost town. Caliph Al-Mansur took much of the required material
for the construction of Baghdad from the ruins of Ctesiphon.
He also attempted to demolish the palace and reuse its bricks
for his own palace, but he desisted only when the undertaking
proved too vast. Al-Mansur also used the al-Rumiya town as the
Abbasid capital city for a few months.
It
is believed to be the basis for the city of Isbanir in One Thousand
and One Nights.
Modern
era :
The ruins of Ctesiphon were the site of a major battle of World
War I in November 1915. The Ottoman Empire defeated troops of
Britain attempting to capture Baghdad, and drove them back some
40 miles (64 km) before trapping the British force and compelling
it to surrender.
Population
and religion :
Under Sasanian rule, the population of Ctesiphon was heavily
mixed: it included Arameans, Persians, Greeks and Assyrians.
Several religions were also practiced in the metropolis, which
included Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. In 497, the
first Nestorian patriarch Mar Babai I, fixed his see at Seleucia-Ctesiphon,
supervising their mission east, with the Merv metropolis as
pivot. The population also included Manicheans, a dualist church,
who continued to be mentioned in Ctesiphon during Umayyad rule
fixing their "patriarchate of Babylon" there. Much
of the population fled from Ctesiphon after the Arab capture
of the metropolis. However, a portion of Persians remained there,
and some important figures of these people are known to have
provided Ali with presents, which he, however, refused to take.
In the ninth century, the surviving Manicheans fled and displaced
their patriarchate up the Silk Road, in Samarkand.
Archaeology
:
A German Oriental Society led by Oscar Reuther excavated at
Ctesiphon in 1928–29 mainly at Qasr bint al-Qadi on the
western part of the site. In winter of 1931–1932 a joint
expedition of the German State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art continued excavations
at the site, focusing on the areas of Ma'aridh, Tell Dheheb,
the Taq-i Kisra, Selman Pak and Umm ez-Za'tir under the direction
of Ernst Kühnel.
In
the late 1960s and early 1970s, an Italian team from the University
of Turin directed by Antonio Invernizzi and Giorgio Gullini
[it] worked at the site, which they identified not as Ctesiphon
but as Veh Ardashir. Work mainly concentrated on restoration
at the palace of Khosrau II. In 2013, the Iraqi government contracted
to restore the Taq Kasra, as a tourist attraction.
Gallery
:
![](Tagkasra.jpg)
1824
drawing by Captain Hart
![](640px-ArchOfCtesiphon.jpg)
Remains
of Taq Kasra in 2008
![](Stamp_Iraq_1923_3a.jpg)
1923
Iraqi postage stamp, featuring the arch
![](640px-Ctesiphon,_Iraq,_1932.jpg)
Remains
of the Kasra arch in Ctesiphon in 1932
![](Ctesiphon_Exhibition_-_Pergamonmuseum_Berlin_2017.jpg)
Ctesiphon
Exhibition at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Ctesiphon